Outpatient clinic is a small polyclinic

Outpatient treatment is a method of rendering medical care to the population, not implying the patient's placement in a hospital. All medical and diagnostic measures are performed at home or at the patient's appearance at the reception to the doctor of the medical and preventive institution.

Thus, medical care is organized in relation to the sick, whose condition does not require a round-the-clock bed rest and continuous, systematic observation of medical specialists. The patient with an outpatient treatment is to the attending physician at the appointed time to monitor the condition and evaluate its dynamics.

Medical institutions that provide medical assistance in this mode are an outpatient clinic and a polyclinic.

What is an outpatient clinic?

The outpatient clinic is a medical and preventive institution whose tasks are to provide medical care to the population attached to it on a territorial basis, in accordance with the main medical directions, in an outpatient setting.

In the outpatient clinic, a medical history must be kept for everyone who applies for medical help. In this way, patients are recorded.

The provision of medical assistance on the basis of a medical outpatient clinic is covered by the area of medical insurance.

The outpatient clinic can exist as an independent medical institution, which is a separate legal entity, and can be part of the hospital and be one of its structural units.

Evaluation of the effective activity of the outpatient clinic is carried out using the analysis of morbidity among the attached population, statistics on temporary disability, the incidence of infectious diseases, and other demographic indicators. The quality of the medical examination is also taken into account.

Construction of an outpatient clinic, including in rural areas, is usually carried out in conjunction with a pharmacy and a housing stock intended for medical personnel and pharmacy staff.

Mobile ambulatory unit

Mobile ambulance is a unit that operates on the basis of central district hospitals. The tasks of such mobile ambulatory service include:

• Organization and implementation of periodic medical examinations and medical examinations;
• Organization and conduct of consultations with representatives of the attached contingent;
• The provision of medical assistance to the population attached to the hospital, including narrow medical specialties, physicians who are members of the central district hospital.

Than an outpatient clinic differs from a polyclinic

The outpatient clinic is a type of multidisciplinary or specialized type of treatment-and-prophylactic institution intended for the provision of medical care and diagnostic activities at the reception or at home.

Unlike the polyclinic, the outpatient clinic does not have enough facilities and staff to provide medical and preventive services in a wide range of medical fields; Medical assistance is provided here only on the basis of the main medical profiles:

• therapy;
• surgery;
• Obstetrics and gynecology (in large dispensaries of rural settlements);
• Dentistry;
• pediatrics.

How the staff of the institution is staffed

Management of the activity of an independent outpatient clinic is carried out by the chief physician, whose functions are the development of the staff schedule.

The structure of the institution includes the following units, staffed by relevant specialists:

• Registry.
• The offices of medical specialists.
• The structures involved in diagnostics (X-ray room, laboratory, separation of functional diagnostics).
• Medical departments (physiotherapy, treatment room).
• Another branch that can be deployed on the basis of an outpatient clinic is a day hospital, designed for a small number of beds. In this case, the staff is still a doctor, as well as a nurse or a day care assistant.

The organization of an outpatient clinic implies the existence of a pharmacy. This, as a rule, is taken into account in the construction of buildings intended for opening an outpatient clinic.